A management controller is a piece of hardware dedicated to the management of a host system's hardware. A host system may be a server system, a personal computer, or any other physical computing system. A physical computing system typically includes a motherboard which is the main circuit board used to house various components such as memory, processors, input/output controllers etc. The management controller can operate independently of these components to manage them. To operate independently, the management controller typically includes its own memory system and firmware. The firmware includes a number of instructions for operating the management controller. The firmware also includes the instructions for initializing the memory subsystem of the management controller. Initializing the memory subsystem refers to the process of getting the memory controller and memory ready for normal operation. The memory initialization process must be performed every time the management controller is powered on.
In some modern physical computing systems, a video controller for the host system is integrated with the management controller to save costs. A video controller is a piece of hardware dedicated to rendering graphics for display onto a display device such as a monitor. The video controller uses the same memory subsystem used by the management controller. Consequently, if the management controller memory is not properly initialized, the video controller will be unable to function.
When the management controller is powered on, it performs a boot process. This boot process includes, among other things, initializing the memory subsystem of the management processor. In some cases, hardware can be prone to failure. Thus, if for some reason, the management controller fails to boot properly or initialize the memory subsystem properly, then the management controller memory subsystem will not function. As the video controller relies on the management controller memory subsystem, the video controller will also not be able to function. The host system can operate without the standard functions of the management controller. However, the host system requires use of the video controller to provide human interaction.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.